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Originally posted by Octopulse Diamond, I assume you are suggesting Cy had an atheistic slant here. Maybe Cy meant for the song to be a double-entendre and giving only the one meaning in the songbook interview? Ya know the more I think on this one now the more I suspect that maybe a dual meaning is what he intended. Of course people will take home their own meanings and alot of artists intend just that. Interesting, someone should ask Cy about this sometime if possible. Has anyone else out there seen any other qoutes from the band on SBZ, or maybe asked one of them personally about the song?

Octo

ps.... I havent forgotten about your Michelob offer D, I hope someday maybe we can get around to it. Too bad we couldnt have met up at the NYC show, just a bit green with envy here . Hey, how about putting up a pic of your Phantoms painting you once mentioned, I would be interested in seeing it.

As Far as I understand, In an interveiw on the radio, Cy said that Saved By Zero was about less being more. That being less attached to material things was more freeing than being hung up on possessions. That's a paraphrase. But still it does make sense.

Okay, I'm digging up ancient history again, but I went to breakfast with some people today, showed them my pics of the show, told them about talking with the guys, and got into an inspiring discussion with someone about who the Fixx are and what they consider important. When asked what songs are theirs, I started naming them off. I got to Saved By Zero and the person stopped me and said, "Saved by Zero? What's that about? What do they mean by that?" I spoke on much of what has been posted above, but also added some of my own take on it (it's probably my favorite song, so I think about it a lot). Here are some additional ideas I felt like sharing.

Zero is the point at which negative things change into positive things (or the other way around, but I would think if you're being saved by it, the first would apply...hmm, not necessarily, though...)

It's the point at which all other things are balanced. If you're at zero, you're not leaning too much one way or another (which can be damaging).

It's the only point other than infinity at which you can get a complete perspective of everything else (well, you might have to be making a 360 degree turn and looking up and down while at the zero point, but you get the idea). Since it's outside human ability to have an infinite perspective, zero is the only other complete perspective we have (the true center). Does it give us some understanding, then, of something we would normally think of as opposite or unattainable (infinity, or should I say Infinity)?

Zero by itself means no quantity, but think of how much we would never be able to express without it. We would have no number 10, 100, 1,000,000, 204, .0007 -830, etc. In other words, alone, it has no quantity, but together with other numbers, it can go to infinity. Do we conquer space around us this way, because we can go anywhere with it? Does it not make everything else possible, or at least able to be expressed (and here we could segue into art and expression).

I was reading an article on possible alien civilizations once that talked about how they may have very different mathematical systems from ours, which would affect basically the entire functioning of their society and ability to relate to one like ours. I remember saying at the time, "I wonder what they would be saved by"?

Hmmm...maybe I just need to get people to stop slipping stuff into my breakfast/coffee

"I was born into this world with nothing, and I still have most of it left" -Unknown

In case you haven't seen this yet, Saved By Zero is highlighted in this book, and you can read the 2 pages about it if you do a search for "Saved By Zero" or "Cy Curnin" when viewing the book listing at Amazon. This is a free way to read it without buying the whole book. It isn't The Fixx's take on the song, merely the author's interpretation, along with a bit of dialogue about Alfie Aegis.

Heeeyyy...bumping this thread up reminds me of some further ruminations on this subject that I've had since the last time I posted. Granted, one would probably have to have the religious views that I do for this to make any sense (and I don't know that anyone shares them), but...could zero be God? If you think about the/a universe coming into being where nothing existed before (if you believe it did), what/who is the only power to create something out of nothing, and itself, at the same time?

I always thought of infinity as God when I first formed my religious beliefs, but I've now come to think of zero as a god-like symbol, and infinity its creation. So, to me, to revert, or be saved, by zero, is to see God in its elemental form, instead of that where it becomes intertwined with its creation.

Now I'm quite sure the guys intended nothing like this in the song, but it's helpful to me in this way!

Could well be. As a Maths teacher, I always describe zero as both the beginning and endpoint - positive infinity meets negative infinity making a circle if you will - zero is the centre of all things in a way. This fits in with many religious aspects and also with many of the points raised in this thread (I have only scanned it btw).

In direct answer to your question - the Romans had no concept of zero, they also had no direct concept of a (single) God. The parallels are intriguing (I mean this in a fun kind of way).